Indiana Jones Birthday Party Theme

I asked my son what he would like for a birthday party theme. He said “Indiana Jones” which completely took me aback since he had never really showed an interest before. I didn’t give him a chance to change his mind. This was going to be FUN! I decided right then we were all going to dress up. The birthday boy would, of course, be Indiana Jones, my husband was naturally Indy’s dad, my daughter was Willie Scott, my other son Mola Ram, and I was Irana Spalko.

My party planning started by searching the internet. I found some blogs that had great ideas and was able to incorporate some of my ideas with ones that I discovered. Instead of buying party bags, I made Indy’s messenger bag out of felt for each kid to keep their prizes and candy safely secure. I bought some burlap and dyed some fabric that I found in the clearance section for the table cloths. My husband and I put up what is called a “scene setter” on the wall for pictures. I made the boulder that hung above out of an exercise ball that I used paper mache. My original idea was to make this into the pinata, but it was so big I didn’t feel it would be strong enough to hold up to many swings of the bat. We had a table that had “artifacts” on it along with some treasure and snakes. My husband had projected some of the movie trailers on the wall. This detail gave the feeling that we were at Disney!

We played hot skull (potato), pin the airplane on the map, a few sack races, and the best game of all had 4 parts. The kids were split in 2 groups. When I said “go” they had to walk across the snake pit, dodge some rolling boulders, shoot a target with a poison dart, and make it back. When each kid got back to me, they got their antidote (wax bottle drink). This game was so fun! I think the boulder rollers might have gotten a bit carried away, though. Some of the prizes were whips made out of jump ropes, glow bracelets, and gummies. Since my boulder pinata didn’t work out, I had the kids line up and run to a huge strip of candy. I made a separate spot for the little ones. This actually worked out well because the kids weren’t on top of each other fighting for the candy.

Reactions to this party were all great! I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids. Since my daughter’s birthday is a month after my son’s, a lot of people asked how I was going to top it. Well, this month we’re going to have a circus, and there just might be a bearded lady.

Photography was very tricky with this party. First, it was in a school gym with fluorescent lights. Second, I was the party planner so I did all of the games, taking away the whips and dart throwers, etc. I did, finally, hand off my camera to my BFF which is how I got most of my party pictures.

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Comments

This is a party I’d like to attend or be in the background. How FUN and I love that your whole family got into it. Another one of the Guru’s has done Indiana Jones themed Halloween parties. Its fun when the whole family gets involved. Makes it more enjoyable.
Your pictures are great. I have yet to figure out how to shoot in a gym with their bright lights; for either basketball games or plays the kids are in
I enjoyed this article.